NATION'S MAYORS IN FOCUS IN TRENTON
Trenton announces green plan at summit
September 16, 2007
BY EVA LOAYZA
TRENTON -- The city is going green.

Mayor Douglas H. Palmer plans to announce a green initiative for the city later this month that will look at, among other things, how to make new and existing buildings in the city more energy efficient, developing a plan with architects, engineers and developers that will help the city "build smarter," and the type of ordinances that would be needed to make this happen.

Palmer made the announcement during the leadership meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, which wrapped up early yesterday. Palmer would not reveal the details behind the "Trenton Green Initiative," only saying he is making it a high priority in his administration. Fighting global warming already tops the conference's 10-point legislative agenda. The conference is calling for the creation of an energy and environmental block grant that would help cities and counties fund programs that improve energy efficiency in the community; reduce carbon emissions; encourage the development of new technologies and systems to decrease the country's dependence on foreign oil; and promote alternative energy resources.

In City Hall, fluorescent light bulbs are replacing regular bulbs, a footnote in what Palmer hopes will become a green agenda that will make the city more environmentally friendly, while creating "green-collar" jobs.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who will host the conference's climate protection summit in November, said extreme weather events bring home to people the fact "that we are at risk."

At a press briefing Friday, Nickels said 667 mayors have pledged to reduce the carbon emissions in their cities. Nickels said 24 percent of the country's citizens live in the cities that have made the pledge.

Nickels said cities are taking the lead because of the failure of the federal leadership, and because "we have a responsibility at the local level." For the first time in history, more than half the people on the planet live in cities, said Nickels. Two-thirds of the energy consumed on the planet is consumed in cities, "because we are the engines of our nation's economy, and so, we are going to be the solution," said Nickels.

Palmer said he and members of his cabinet are working on the local initiative with the state departments of Environmental Protection and of Labor and Workforce Development, the county, PSE&G and the community nonprofit group Isles Inc. The leadership meeting, held at the Trenton Marriott, drew mayors from 38 cities, as well as the governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland. It also drew some 60 protesters critical of Palmer and his administration.

About a dozen mayors stayed yesterday and were scheduled to attend the Trenton Jazz Festival. The mayors were also treated to a reception Friday night, courtesy of the USCM, at South River Walk Park.

The city had its 18th homicide that same night, after a man was shot and killed shortly before 8 p.m. near the front steps of the Gemini Grocery Store at East State Street and North Walter Avenue.

Palmer, who said he learned of the fatal shooting yesterday morning, said crime is something all mayors have to deal with. That is why they continue to work to get illegal guns off the street, he said, and push their 10-point plan, which calls for greater federal resources to fund crime prevention programs.

"It's what we struggle with and try to combat each and every day," Palmer said. "Any time it happens, I don't care what day it is, it is unacceptable."

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